ME2 Kira Shepard 2 Daddy Was a Rolling Stone SV
by RickF7666
Summary: This is the short version of the story of Kira Shepard's background.  More like who her father was.  This was my first ME story.  I wrote it as part of a contest, the theme being "explain why Shepard is so incredible.  So I linked her to my superheros.


Daddy Was a Rolling Stone: Short Version

She didn't belong here.

The Presidium of the Citadel bustled about as it had for centuries. Beings of many races moved with purpose across the arching bridges that spanned manicured parks. Few gave the armored, blond haired human more than a glance as they went about their various tasks. Military personal rarely had free range on the Presidium. _This_ was the venue for diplomats and powerful businessmen. But _this _was no ordinary soldier. This was one of the most famous members of the Citadel Counsel's elite operatives. She was the first human _Specter_, **Commander Kira Shepard**: hero of the battle for the Citadel!

Because of the events of that battle, many non-humans feared and even _hated_ her. Her decisions -though heroic- led to the _deaths_ of the original counsel ...and its replacement by a Human-only counsel, headed by Counselor Udina.

As Commander Shepard leaned on the curving railing of the bridge, looking out at where the habitat ring curved out of sight, a tall dark haired man walked up beside her. Placing an arm comfortably around her waist he said, "Credit for your thoughts." She stood straight, a frown on her face.

"I'm really regretting my decision to support Udina as the head of the Counsel. If he doesn't watch it, he'll find out that his_ title_ doesn't afford him the same protection as a _biotic barrier_."

A frown then creased **Kaidan Alenko's** face as well. "You really shouldn't say things like that. You're already on thin ice with the powers-that-be, because of your association with Cerberus."

The look she gave him spoke to the conversations that they had had earlier. Kaidan knew just how close he had come to losing her. Shepard had always seemed invincible. Standing against_ Saren_ and _Sovereign_ when few believed she wasn't out of her mind. But then came that terrible day when the Collectors _destroyed_ the Normandy and she sacrificed her life for Joker. But then, two years later, she _miraculously_ showed up on Horizon and saved the colony from a Collector attack!

Upon seeing her then, Kaidan was both elated and hurt. Had she "faked" her death as the rumors had said? Why hadn't she contacted him? And the further shock of finding her in the employ of _Cerberus_ was almost too much for him to bear. How could she work for them after all the _atrocities_ they had witnessed committed by Cerberus operatives -not to mention what those operatives had done to Admiral Kahoku?

Kaidan had felt betrayed. After he had allowed his emotions to calm, though, it sank-in that she, too, had paid a price. The glowing scars that had lacerated her face were testament to the lengths that Cerberus had gone to bring her back.

But now the Collector threat had been _defeated _and, to his shame, he had not stood beside her. The mission she had _now_ taken on was to prepare the galaxy for the coming _Reaper_ invasion. She didn't know when it would come. A year? Two? A thousand? No one could know. But that mission is what had brought her back to the Citadel and back into his life. Somewhere along the line she had fixed the scarring on her face, but the fire behind those eyes still burned. It had taken some time for them to work past their various feelings and get back to a semblance of their previous relationship.

"Well at least Cerberus takes the threat _seriously_, unlike that self-important bureaucrat."

He understood her frustration. After she had "died", she'd gotten a state funeral and a plaque with her name on it...and then they promptly swept _everything she had said_ under a rug.

"You have to cut them a little slack. The attack is still fresh in their minds. The lower wards are _still_ cleaning up the mess -and that was just _one_ Reaper. _Now _you're telling them there is an _entire armada -_bent on wiping out all life- headed their way? _Of course_ they don't want to believe it!"

She opened her mouth for a rebuttal when she was interrupted.

"Excuse me, but are you Commander Kira Shepard?"

They both turn to the new arrival. He was short for a Human, balding, and wearing an old style business suit that was completely out of place on the Citadel. Shepard looked down at the man and simply replied, "...Yes..."

"Oh, my heavens! I cannot _tell you_ what I have been through tracking you down! I have a message from your father!"

Fewer words could have been spoken that could have had a greater impact than those uttered by this odd little man.

The problem was that Shepard had _never known_ her father. He had left her mother when she was pregnant. Her mother had died when Shepard was only five years old, and she had grown up on the streets of New York in a gang called "the Tenth Street Reds." For some reason things from her past seem to be popping up lately. First it was _Finch_ from the old gang - and then _Major Kyle_ from Torfan - and _now _a message from her father!

"...What kind of message?"

"Pardon my excitement, but who could have known that this message -put in our care all those years ago- would lead one to a _genuine hero!"_

"Would you just get on with it?"

"Right you are! My name is _'Milo Wolowitts'_, of Hammon, Stern and Wolowitts, PA." He handed her a small rectangle of paper which appeared to magically jump to the end of his fingers. "My firm was contracted to deliver this message to you on your twentieth birthday!"

Kaidan chuckled at that and said, "I think you _missed it_ by more than a few years" -for which he got an armored elbow in the ribs.

"Yes, well, you were a might _hard_ to track down! We _thought_ we had tracked you down last year, after the attack on the Citadel, but then you were reported as having _died!_ Imagine my delight at having found that _not_ to be true!"

Kaidan knew the warning signs. Shepard was about to do something violent.

"We are happy for you, but could you _just - give - her - the - message - already?"_

"Right you are! Right you are! But first things first. If you could just put your hand on this _DNA scanner,_ to verify your identity..."

At which point Milo reached into his archaic briefcase and pulled out a piece of equipment that at least _looked_ like it had been manufactured this century. After getting a positive scan result he then produced a sealed plastic envelop. Opening it up, Commander Shepard found an old-style video disk. Looking back at Milo she sniffed, "You're_ kidding, _right? I doubt that I could find anything to _play_ this thing with anywhere on the Citadel."

"Not to worry! Not to worry! I have a player right here!" At which point he pulled out a portable viewer. "It has its own screen, but it's also wireless...so you shouldn't have any trouble hooking it up to _any_ view screen. And now -with your kind permission, Commander-_ I_ can go back to Earth!"

After the small man had left, the two headed back to where the Normandy II was docked. "Sooo...a message from your father. Do you remember anything that your mother might have mentioned about him?" Looking pensive, Shepard replied "Now that I think about it -what little I can remember, of course- she never spoke badly of him. As a matter of fact, I think she once said that he was a _hero_."

"What kind of 'hero?' Was he in the military?"

"I don't think so. Maybe...Ah, _hell_ -I was only _five_ when she died, and it's not really something I've dwelled on."

Arriving on the Normandy II the pair was greeted at the airlock by a guard. While it had been well-lit on the Citadel, the lights on the Normandy where only set at half -being that it was late in the ship's evening. Few of the crew were about, and the two headed to the lift. Arriving in the Captain's Cabin, Shepard turned to a display right inside the door.

"Edi I have a rather _old_ video disk player. Can you connect to it and display the image over on the armor-select console?" A pleasant, if somewhat artificial, woman's voice responded, "That's not a problem Commander."

Shepard and Kaidan walked down the stairs from the cabin's "office" to its living space. Sitting on the edge of the bed they looked at the holographic display on the port side bulkhead. An image formed of a man of middle years, with dark brown hair and a neatly trimmed moustache. He was, if anything, a rather nondescript man...but there was something in the eyes: a hidden intensity...a quiet resolve.

A woman's voice, not unlike Shepard's, said off-camera "Alan it's recording."

The man smiled pleasantly and announced, "Yes, Kira, you have a father." At which point he chuckled at some inner joke. "My name is **Alan Johnson**, and _I'm_ your father. I've asked Helen not to tell you much about me, as whom and what I am is a little...er,_ complicated_. So I'm recording this as a twentieth birthday gift, and I really hope that you will understand all that I have to tell you...and maybe _forgive me_ for not being there as you grew up." A sadness filled his eyes, but he quickly got it under control and the smile returned.

"The first thing I need to mention is that I'm not from your world. I _am_ from Earth, but not _this_ Earth."

Shepard's mouth opened, to voice a question that never came.

The recording of Alan continued. "Several years ago I and several others were involved in an event that -well- _shunted us_ from our reality...and we have been trying to get back to it ever since. I'm not going to get into all the science behind it as it doesn't really matter at this point. What _does_ matter is that I don't have a choice in leaving. If it had only been _me_ travelling, then I would have stayed here with you and your mother. I can only hope that one day you'll understand how, sometimes, _obligations_ can override any personal desires you might have to the contrary. Also...if the choice was there, I would have brought you and your mother _with_ me - but the journey is hazardous, and I _will not_ risk your lives. This is - in case you were wondering - why you have your mother's last name. I don't exist here and bureaucracies handle unanswered questions better than answers that aren't covered by one of their forms."

Alan's eyes strayed toward the ceiling and he stroked his moustache, his voice briefly muffled behind his hand. "I think you might be wondering just who I am. Well...I was born in Chicago...in 1960."

Chuckling, he continued, "Oh, I'm not as old as _all that!_ One of the problems with travelling between realities is locking onto _the date_. Again, it's complicated - but I think we _are_ getting better at it. By trade I'm an engineer. By hobby, well ...that might be a little hard to believe. _This_ Earth has only just started to reach out to the stars, and you have yet to encounter any non-human civilizations...although by the time you see this, that might not be the case. Once humans encounter aliens you might find that they have _abilities_ that humans don't, such as_ telepathy_ or _telekinesis_."

"I'm telling you this because you _yourself _might have these abilities! Because on _my_ Earth they are not uncommon and...well...I, and other members of my family, have them."

"WHAT?" That last comment by Alan had brought Kaidan to his feet, staring in disbelief between the screen and Shepard.

"Edi pause please." The image of the man stopped moving just as he was opening his mouth to say something else.

Kaidan continued. "Were you or _weren't_ you exposed to Element Zero?" Shepard smiled up at him, guiltily.

"Actually...I wasn't."

"As a matter of fact, I never even had _biotic implants_ until Cerberus got a hold of me. After I joined the Alliance Military and started using my abilities, everyone just _assumed _that I had implants...and I didn't see any need to _dissuade them_ of the idea. Now, are you going to sit down so we can continue this?" Shaking his head, Kaidan suspiciously returned to his spot next to Shepard.

"Edi please continue the recording."

Alan continued to speak, "On _my_ Earth people with abilities are called _"Phenoms"..._and occasionally some would _band together_ for various reasons. As it turns out,_ I_ am a member of one of those bands ...which is how I came to be on this little journey. As for how your mother and I came to be together… well, you can't always predict who you'll connect with, or the situations you might find yourself in." Shepard and Kaidan briefly looked at each other.

"I fell in love with your mother and I'm not sorry. Never regret love. If you ever have the opportunity to fall in love, cherish it. It may not last, but that's no reason to avoid it."

"**Helen**, get over here and say hello to your daughter! I know young people never believe that _their parents_ were once young, too." Alan slid to the side and a young woman stepped into view. Except for the hair style and the makeup, she could have been Shepard's _twin_. She must have been very early in her pregnancy, because she didn't show at all. She smiled and said, "Hello, Kira sweetie. Happy birthday!" She blew a kiss and stepped out-of-frame. Kaidan looked over at Shepard and, while her face might have been carved of stone, tears rolled down her cheeks.

The antiquated disk continued its recording of Alan Johnson, the father that Kira never knew. Alan introduced his high-spirited, optimistic allies...fellow stranded "Phenoms" -human and _startlingly_ extraterrestrial- with superhuman abilities. These were the surrogate "Aunts" and "Uncles" that Kira would never meet, from a home-Earth that she would never see. Alan told a few anecdotes, attempted a few jokes, and made numerous apologies for not seeing Kira grow up. He and his fellows were now gone. No...not gone...just _elsewhere._

Regardless, the recording of Alan Johnson assured Commander Kira Shepard that she _has_ a home-world...a_ familial_ explanation for her abilities...and a father that loves her.

All too soon, the recording ended. The screen went dark and Commander Shepard sat speechless. Edi interrupted with, "The disk contains a variety of still pictures. Would you like to see them?"

Shepard stared at the now-blank screen for several seconds more. "No thank you, Edi. That'll be all for tonight."

"Good night Shepard."

Kaidan stood and stretched, asking no one in particular "...So...do you _actually_ think that's real?"

Shepard laid back on her bed, staring out though the skylight at the nebulous clouds that surrounded the Citadel. She smiled, wistfully. "At this point, I'm not sure."

"...But I choose to believe it is."

6


End file.
